How Classrooms Will Change In The Future

We’ve come a long way since the early classrooms where canes were common place and learning environments were dark, dingy and damp rooms where you were more likely to pick up an illness rather than inspired learning.

Today however our classrooms are equipped with all manner of tech: tablets, P.Cs and smartboards are each standard items, with the text book having become all but extinct.

Yet further change is afoot, and the classroom of the future will experience even more significant shifts that tap into tech and transition the traditional face of learning.

For the countries where learner numbers are fit to bursting, one-on-one teaching will be delivered through tech

The world has a population crisis and over the coming years and decades this is only set to become ever more serious. For many countries this will mean classrooms where larger average class sizes feature – and key to overcoming the challenge of teaching students where drastically differing abilities may be found will be technology. Lessons will then be customised to every learner, providing exercises to suit skillsets and levels, and all whilst freeing up the time of the teacher to commit to interacting with the many students before them.

AI, 3D Printing and Virtual reality will enrich the life of the learner

Augmented Reality: a technology on the horizon

One tech that we are yet to speak about comes in the form of Augmented Reality, where the world around us is overlaid with digital projections; we saw the first fledgling examples of this within everyday life through the Google Glass project, yet with this shelved for the time being it’s anyone’s guess as to who will truly take this forward to a stage where virtual field trips are possible.

Cloud Computing: truly remote learners

In the classroom of tomorrow they’ll be no possibility of an excuse where homework has been left on the kitchen table, nor will there be a need for backpacks stuffed to the rafters with heavy textbooks. Tomorrow, there will be teachers who tap into cloud computing – offering convenience to student and school alike and providing the ability for learners to learn from anywhere in the world with only an internet connection.

Biometric eye tracking: Teachers who no longer need to ask whether students are paying attention

We all know that when a teacher’s back is turned there’s likely a lack of attention, passed notes and plenty of whispering. One technology is looking set to remove this age old educational problem: biometrics.

Not only this, but it also promises to demonstrate what content is catching the attention of students and where learners are most engaged with topics – all seriously useful stuff for the educator who continually aims to improve their courses.

Multi-touch LCD Screens: the blackboard reinvented

We’ve already seen increasing use of the Smartboard – which is helping to engage students in learning far more effectively than any chalk and blackboard could. Yet the classroom of tomorrow will take this a step further. Mutli-touch LCD screens will allow for physical interactivity from many students, all at once. What’s more this bit of kit will likely be teamed with LCD Touch boards that are connected to a larger board, or that makes for a replacement of the books upon every students’ lap.

Gaming: No longer a distraction but a tool for learning

Teachers have spent decades upon decades doing battle with students determined to enter the classroom with tech charged gaming. Yet the tables may be about to turn as Game-Based learning puts in a productive appearance for future learners. This gaming is set to be motion-sense based – such as is seen with the Xbox Kinect and could allow for learning that includes things such as sign language and even learning to play an instrument.

Finally: the classroom may well become an unnecessary

Remote learning has promised much over the years and delivered very little in return. When the internet first emerged it was foresaw that such a way of education could transform countries, yet it may be only in the future that we truly begin to see a rise in the number of remote learners.

Notably however, we’re already seeing remote learning in businesses, where skills and knowledge are picked up on a case by case basis, something that may equally transform the classroom, and the courses, of tomorrow (read more about Just in Time learning in our previous blog post).